Today, the success of an enterprise depends essentially on the requirement that customer demands on products and services be fulfilled quickly, cost-efficiently, and with the highest quality. Therefore, many enterprises use or implement supply chain management systems to control and optimize their production processes and costs.
Supply chain management may comprise the practice of controlling the flow of goods, services, information, and/or finances between the involved parties, such as manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. This process may include order processing, information feedback, and the efficient and timely delivery of goods and/or services.
Currently, supply chain management systems use demand-quantity-oriented rounding algorithms, which round for larger or smaller package units in very rough rounding steps. Package units may comprise a packet, pallet, carton, transporter, or container. The rounding algorithms function by rounding a given quantity of products to a multiple of packages, whereby the rounding result is irrespective of the given quantity of products and the different package units. Demand-quantity-oriented rounding does not give the possibility to control the calculation of the rounding result. Further, prior supply chain management systems, while performing an availability check, round the required quantity of products before the check, or round the available quantity of products after the check.
Accordingly, there is a need for a solution that optimizes the result of an availability check process within a supply chain management system to guarantee that the quantity of products confirmed by an availability check is as near as possible to the required quantity of products.